Woolas left red-faced as £450,000 'detention centre', revealed as just six holding cells

Gaffe prone minister Phil Woolas faces further embarrassment following his disastrous claim that a 'new' Anglo-French detention centre for illegal immigrants would be built at Calais.

The new facility has only six cells, though each may house more than one inmate. It also emerged that it merely replaces existing prefabricated cells.

The cost is around £450,000, no more than that of a family home in Calais.

Immigration minister Mr Woolas caught his own officials unprepared when he announced last Tuesday an Anglo-French facility that would represent a major step in tackling the flow of illegal immigrants from across the Channel.

Calais docks: The new holding centre will have only six cells

He suggested it would hold significant numbers of immigrants who could then be deported on special charter flights.

But within hours his French opposite number Eric Besson poured cold
water on Mr Woolas' claims, saying there was 'no question' of a new
detention facility being built.

Mr Woolas told reporters: 'We want to increase the profile of deportations because we have to get the message back to Afghanistan and Iraq that Britain is not the Promised Land.

'We are in a 24-hour-a-day war with the traffickers.'

Immigration minister Phil Woolas claimed the building would be a mass 'deterrent' prison for immigrants

Details have emerged of the reality of the plans, adding to Mr Woolas's embarrassment.

A letter from a senior Home Office official to the French Immigration Ministry confirmed that Britain would pay 50 per cent of the building costs - which amount to just 500,000 Euros, or £470,000, with Britain paying around £235,000 - and that a building contractor has been chosen.

It adds: 'We look forward to having a purpose-built facility that provides a safe, secure and appropriate method of holding clandestines for short periods.'

Sources at Calais Town Council laughed off suggestions that the building would be a mass 'deterrent' prison from where migrants would be deported straight home.

An insider said: 'It will be made up of around half-a-dozen cells where migrants can immediately be taken when caught inside the port perimeter.

'At the moment they're placed in police cells which are getting a bit old. That's why better facilities are needed.

'After spending a few hours in the cells, the migrants are taken to proper detention centres in the Calais region where they are processed before usually being released. In this respect, nothing will change.'

There are already three larger detention centres around Calais with around 100 beds each where illegal immigrants caught in the area are held for a few days and processed.

A French immigration service spokesman said yesterday: 'These detention centres are perfectly adequate for the numbers involved.'

However French policy is to return illegal immigrants who do not want to claim asylum in France to the last safe country they passed through.

But as most of those caught around Calais claim to have arrived from Belgium - an hour's drive up the coast - there is no point driving them there simply to return, and so they are commonly released in Calais itself.

A UK Border Agency spokesperson said: 'There are ongoing discussions at official level about what form of facility could be built within Calais port.'